The New York Times article that ran two days ago (February 19, 2013) indicates that the “college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting the lowest-level job” (http://http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/20/business/college-degree-required-by-increasing-number-of-companies.html).
As a college instructor, I am not surprised by the depressing title of this article “It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk.” My students have known this for a long, long time. It’s why they continue to persevere, while frequently working 40-hour weeks in dead-end jobs, to obtain their much-needed diplomas.
The NYT article outlines some good and not-so-good reasons that explain why employers are setting higher standards for the minimum requirement of education for even entry-level positions.
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They may assume that applicants without degrees are ill-equipped for the working world. They wonder, do non-degreed applicants have learning issues or unclear career goals?
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They may be taking advantage of the glut of unemployed college graduates out there. An easy way to limit the number of “qualified” applicants is to eliminate those without a college degree.
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They may have increased the technical aspects of all jobs corporate-wide and earnestly need applicants with skills that are most obviously marked by a bachelor’s degree.
The upshot of this news is that if you, or your child, do(es) not have a college degree, the likelihood of unemployment is twice as high. Unemployment is 8.1% for high school graduates, as compared to 3.7% for college graduates. College degrees matter, today more than ever.